In the human body there are numerous conduits, for example blood vessels and ducts that carry necessary fluids to internal organs or allow for the excretion of those fluids. These conduits can become diseased or clogged causing severe, adverse consequences. One example of a disease afflicting a body conduit is arteriosclerosis, caused by the presence of matter on or in the inner wall of blood vessels resulting in occlusion of the vessel. One possible treatment for arteriosclerosis is Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA), which often is accompanied by the placement of a device, such as a stent.
Arteriosclerosis and related diseases can occur throughout the vascular system. One such location is a bifurcation, which is a point where a vessel divides into two separate conduits. It is difficult to place a device in a bifurcation since the vessel bifurcations generally have circumferential asymmetry requiring the device to be precisely positioned, provide adequate coverage of the diseased area, provide access to any diseased area located distal to the bifurcation, and maintain vessel patency in order to allow adequate blood flow. Therefore, the stent must provide adequate coverage to the diseased portion of the bifurcated vessel, without compromising blood flow, and extend to a point within or beyond the diseased portion.
Conventional stents are designed to repair areas of blood vessels that are removed from bifurcations. For example, conventional stents are normally deployed such that the entire stent is either in the parent vessel or the proximal portion of the stent is in the parent vessel and the distal portion is located in the side branch vessel. In either case, either the side branch vessel or the parent vessel could become partially blocked by the stent struts. One vessel is repaired at the site of the bifurcation at the expense of obstruction of the alternate vessel. Blood flow would be compromised into one of the vessels as well as access for future treatment. Alternatively, if the obstruction of blood flow is to be avoided using conventional stents, they must be positioned in such a manner as to leave areas of the bifurcation untreated.
In order to overcome the limitations of conventional stents, branched stents have been employed. Branched stents generally comprise a main section and one or more branch sections that are inserted into the main and branch vessel(s). Some designs for branched stents feature a single piece or unibody device that is pre-shaped to roughly match the contours of the bifurcation. Because of their shape, unibody devices are difficult to deliver through a small diameter sheath or catheter to the bifurcation site. Another delivery problem experienced with unibody designs is wrapping of the wire and device due to the contortions experienced during delivery. Finally, unibody designs are difficult to manufacture as most stents are constructed from a single tube or sheet of material. In effect, two stents would need to be formed and connected together. A unibody device is also difficult to coat with substances such as drugs or other therapeutic agents that are useful in preventing restenosis.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,210,429—Vardi discloses a branched stent device that is formed using at least two conventional stents. As shown in Vardi, a first stent is positioned and expanded in the main branch vessel. The first or main branch stent includes a side opening or port that apposes the side branch vessel opening. A second stent can be placed through the side opening of the main branch stent into the side branch vessel where it is expanded. The two stents can overlap or the side branch stent can be connected to the main branch stent by tabs. A drawback to this approach is that it requires multiple steps to place the branched stent within the bifurcation. For example, the physician must align the opening of the main branch stent with the ostium of the side branch vessel. Only then can the second stent be placed in the side branch. If the second or side branch stent is not accurately positioned and contacts the main branch stent, the opening of the main branch stent may become compromised.
Another branch stent design is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,749,628—Callol. The side branch stent comprises a proximal, middle and distal section. The middle section includes a “trap door” that protrudes into the ostium of the branch vessel when the stent is expanded. The stent is mounted at the distal end of the delivery catheter assembly. In particular a first, long balloon extends through the proximal, middle and distal sections of the stent. A second, shorter balloon extends from the proximal section of the stent and protrudes through the trap door. Guidewires extend through each of the balloons such that the stent is positioned against the carina of the bifurcation. The balloons are then inflated causing the stent to expand and be fixed in the main branch and extend, via the trap door, into the side branch vessel. A second stent can then be inserted into the side branch vessel.
It is desired to simultaneously place the sections of the branched stent in the main and branch vessels. The delivery catheter system of Callol fails to disclose a method for accomplishing this. Moreover, Callol places two wires or wire-like elements in each branch to orient the device to match the vessel anatomy. The shortcoming of this approach is twofold. First, by requiring delivery of the medical device to the location of the bifurcation over two wires for substantially the entire delivery, the chance that the devices and/or wires will wrap is greatly increased. This prevents complete delivery of the devices and can result in the clinician having to withdraw a wire and rewire the vessel. Secondly, solely relying on two wires for orientation is insufficient to guarantee full and proper alignment of the entire medical apparatus with the side branch ostium.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,884,258—Vardi discloses a method for advancing and deploying a bifurcated system with the use of three guide wires. A first wire is placed in the main vessel beyond the bifurcation site while a second wire is placed into a branch vessel. A catheter is placed over the main guidewire to a position near the bifurcation. The catheter includes a side sheath that protrudes from the distal end of the catheter. A third wire is advanced through a side sheath into the branch vessel. Thereafter, the first wire is withdrawn as is the catheter leaving the main and branch guidewires in place. While this method ensures that guide wires are accurately placed in the main vessel and branch vessel, it is still only useful for placing a single stent to treat the main vessel. For example, the problems associated with wire wrapping are still present.
Currently, there is no apparatus, delivery system or method that can simultaneously place separate stents in a vessel bifurcation. The present invention is designed to address this need.